The Ontarion brings you ‘appy hour with our staff’s favourites
These five delicious appetizers are the result of asking my coworkers and friends at The Ontarion what appetizers they would want to know how to make. They also quickly interpreted this to mean the appetizers I was going to make and then bring into the office to share with them.
(Note: Kylie was at her other job, and Sierra was happy with whatever, but wondered where the cupcakes I said I was making were. She then probably called me the office mom again, which I pretended to be annoyed about but not-so-secretly loved.)
I’ve organized these appetizers in order of how difficult they are to make with the first one being the easiest. Still, these are all student-friendly recipes in that they don’t require overly fancy cooking techniques or equipment to make. Let’s dive right in!
Roasted chickpeas the way Dana likes them
Ingredients
- 19 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed well with water
- 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon of salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, or to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- In a medium bowl with a lid, mix oil and salt well.
- Add rinsed, drained, and dried chickpeas to oil and salt mixture. Close lid and shake until chickpeas are evenly coated.
- Spread chickpeas evenly over the baking sheet and place on bottom rack of your oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes and then stir the chickpeas.
- Bake for an additional 10 minutes, remove from oven to sprinkle with paprika and garlic powder, stir well, and return to oven, but this time on the middle or top rack.
- Continue to bake stirring every five minutes or so—up to 50 minutes—until chickpeas are roasted to your liking.
- To get the chickpeas fully dried out, you may have to turn the oven off and leave the chickpeas inside as it cools.
- Enjoy this salty snack with your favourite beverage.
Bruschetta the way Becky likes bruschetta
Ingredients
- 1 french or ciabatta baguette, baked according to instructions
- 3 to 4 firm roma tomatoes, or 2 1/2 cups, diced
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 1/8 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt, to taste
Directions
- Bake the baguette according to the instructions on the bag if applicable. Keep the oven going once you remove the baguette.
- Slice the baguette on a diagonal; this will increase the surface area so more of the good stuff is on top.
- Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and return to oven for a few minutes until slices are just toasted.
- In a large bowl, add balsamic vinegar. While whisking the vinegar with a fork or whisking slowly, pour the olive oil into the bowl so they incorporate. Add a pinch of salt and stir well.
- Place chopped tomatoes and onions in the bowl with the vinegar and oil mixture. Stir until they are coated.
- Add basil to the mix and stir gently.
- Spoon a little of the tomato mixture on the toasted baguette slices.
- Enjoy!
Spinach and artichoke dip because Claire and Mariah call that standard
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
- 5 ounce package of fresh baby spinach
- 389 ml can of artichoke hearts in water (not oil), chopped
- 250 g brick of cream cheese, cubed
- Nacho chips or toasted flatbread for dipping
Directions
- Melt butter in an extra large pan over medium heat.
- Add minced garlic and stir occasionally until just turning golden.
- Add baby spinach and stir occasionally until all is wilted.
- Rinse the artichokes under water and squeeze any excess liquid out. If you like a slightly vinegary flavour, don’t squeeze out too much of the liquid. Add chopped artichoke hearts to pan and stir to combine.
- Add cream cheese cubes and stir well until all the cubes have melted down.
- Transfer the spinach and artichoke dip to a warm bowl or dish. Enjoy with chips or flatbread.
Devilled eggs because Tiann said so
Ingredients
- 12 eggs
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon of paprika, for garnish
Directions
- In a large pot with a lid, place eggs and fill with cold water until eggs are just covered.
- Cover the pot with its lid, place on stovetop, bring the water to a boil, and then remove from heat. Let eggs sit in boiled water—without removing the lid—for at least 15 minutes.
- Drain the hot water from the pot and run the eggs under cold water.
- To peel the eggs, drop an egg onto the counter from a few inches high until all sides of the egg are cracked and then start peeling.
(Note: Make sure you are peeling under the film that is between the egg white and the shell—this makes it a lot easier to remove the shell without damaging the hard-boiled egg white.) - Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and separate the yolks.
(Note: To get the egg yolk out, gently move the egg white away from the yolk on all sides and then pop out.) - Place the yolks in a medium-sized bowl. Add the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, vinegar, and salt to the yolks, smash with a fork, and stir well until smooth and fluffy.
- Place the yolk mixture in a large plastic bag so that the mixture is in one bottom corner of the bag. With a pair of scissors, cut the corner off of the plastic bag—you should cut about one centimeter in from the corner.
- Squeeze the yolk mixture out of the plastic bag through the opening you’ve made and into the egg whites.
- Sprinkle egg whites with paprika and then chill for about 30 minutes or overnight.
Bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers even though Tanner called them “jally pops”
Ingredients
- Bacon, count the slices and make sure you have two slices per jalapeño pepper
- Jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise; ribs and seeds removed
- Strips of a cream cheese brick that will fit in the halved jalapeños
Directions
- Put on a pair of disposable plastic gloves for this recipe; you can buy these at most dollar stores.
- Be really careful not to touch your eyes. Also, try not to totally forget that you made these in the morning; try putting in your contact lenses in the evening; and then get unreasonably angry at your saline solution because your eyes are on fire. This is on you, not your saline solution.
- Happened to a friend, of course.
- Definitely didn’t happen to me.
- Okay, it happened to me but that was years ago.
- Wash and dry the jalapeño peppers.
- Remove the stems of the jalapeños and then slice them in half lengthwise.
- Using a 1/4 teaspoon or a 1/2 teaspoon (the size depends on how big the jalapeños you have are) start from the stem-end and drag the measuring spoon down the inside of the pepper to remove the ribs and seeds. These are the hottest parts of a pepper and removing them makes them edible, but also makes room for the cream cheese.
- If you have a few stray seeds, give the cleaned jalapeños a rinse and then dry with paper towels.
- Slice the cream cheese brick into strips so that you can place a strip inside of the pepper and then squeeze it in.
- Wrap each halved and stuffed jalapeño in one slice of bacon.
- Heat a large frying pan over medium heat.
- Place jalapeño poppers in the pan and flip occasionally until all sides are crispy and the cheese is just starting to melt out of the poppers.
(Note: These won’t look as nice if you freeze them before cooking them. However, freezing them does make them less spicy. Baking this recipe at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes also makes the poppers less spicy but the bacon and the peppers won’t be as crisp.) - Put poppers on a plate lined with paper towels to remove some of the excess bacon grease.
- Transfer to a nicer dish—if they make it that far—and enjoy while hot.